1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to the field of resuscitation devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
All over the world, people experience resuscitation events. For example, both in and out of the hospital, there is a significant incidence of cardiac and/or respiratory arrest among at-risk patients. When an acute event occurs, a variety of therapies may need to be administered to restore the patient's normal function. The patient may require artificial respiration to stimulate breathing, chest compressions to restore perfusion, defibrillation to activate the heart, and/or pacing to promote cardiac output.
Many devices exist which can separately administer these therapies in these events and situations. For example, an automated chest compression device is taught in patent U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,984 B1. Some of these devices even aggregate various features, such as are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,349,015, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,806.
Many of the prior art devices, however, merely collect such features into a single package, without synchronizing their functions and making them work together. Therefore there exists a need for devices that can combine, coordinate and integrate various aspects of these diagnostics and therapies to better assess and treat the patient. That is because many of these conditions occur in combination, requiring that therapies blend constructively with one another to be optimally effective.